Posted 15 March 2011 - 06:11 PM

kgoldy

Posted 15 March 2011 - 06:16 PM

kgoldy

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Picked up some free macros from the LFS on my way home from work today. Picked out the grape caulerpa and tossed it out since it's supposedly like a plague. Kept what I now think is fern caulerpa... mostly because I didn't know what it was until just now (as I'm web searching). Think I should toss it? The seahorses gripping it in one of their display tanks sold me on getting it.

And some... what I think may be... Caulerpa Prolifera... Crap. Is all caulerpa bad?

The last thing looks like it may be something else... But I'm not sure. It's on a runner, the leaves are very small. May just be small pieces of one of the other three caulerpas.

Bristleworms-

The lone hermit-

John at Reefcleaners just brought back the 10 pack of random macros. If this stuff I got is all junk, I don't mind throwing it all out before it spreads.

Looks neat. What kind of dog is that?

Pitbull mastiff mix. At least that's the veterinarian's guess. I got him with fake papers that said he was a purebred pit before I knew anything about dogs. I love him anyway.

The gray one is a purebred blue nose pit, which I got by chance, after I did a lot of research. She thinks she's a cat... And the cat thinks it's a dog. Hence the food bowl confusion that goes on every meal.

Weetabix7

Posted 15 March 2011 - 06:48 PM

Weetabix7

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Awesome dogs. As bitts can tell you, I'm a dog person, and I'm partial to big dogs. The first dog looks kinda like a Bullmastiff to me. What's his temperament like?Sry for all the dog questions.Fuge looks pretty cool too. (for real )

Picked up some free macros from the LFS on my way home from work today. Picked out the grape caulerpa and tossed it out since it's supposedly like a plague. Kept what I now think is fern caulerpa... mostly because I didn't know what it was until just now (as I'm web searching). Think I should toss it? The seahorses gripping it in one of their display tanks sold me on getting it.And some... what I think may be... Caulerpa Prolifera... Crap. Is all caulerpa bad?

The above Caulerpa is good, I have some and really like it. Personally, I would toss the others though.

kgoldy

Posted 15 March 2011 - 07:40 PM

kgoldy

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Awesome dogs. As bitts can tell you, I'm a dog person, and I'm partial to big dogs. The first dog looks kinda like a Bullmastiff to me. What's his temperament like?Sry for all the dog questions.Fuge looks pretty cool too. (for real )

In person you see he's a lot more sausage shaped (because he's not toned anymore, bad legs ) than a mastiff. The head totally gives it away though, just way more massive than the average pit.

Stika is his name. As far as his temperament, he's a total wuss. The little 7 pound declawed cat is the boss of the house. He's not a fan of other dogs, ever since he was bitten as a puppy. An english mastiff basically tried to eat his head... I've tried to re-socialize him, but nothing works. He doesn't attack, but gets very nervous and needs supervision around big dogs. Small dogs kind of creep him out if they're overly friendly. When it comes to people though- he's a real sweetheart. Very cuddly, will do anything to sit on your lap, leg, foot... What ever it takes to have contact.

Ashley, the gray one, is pretty much the perfect dog for people who don't like dogs. She never barks (that's the weimaraner genes), is feminine as a dog can be, and is calm and friendly towards even dogs who've tried to attack her. One of my ex-girlfriends had a really poorly trained pitbull who straight up attacked Ashley with intent to kill, and she thought it was the most fun game ever invented. She's also the epitome of good health- she runs and jumps like an antelope.

The above Caulerpa is good, I have some and really like it. Personally, I would toss the others though.

Looks like I'll toss the rest to be safe. The 10 pack from Reefcleaners is probably my best bet... I may even end up putting some in the display.

RESONANCE

Posted 15 March 2011 - 09:37 PM

RESONANCE

FUBAR.

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Caulpera mexicana I think. Nice find!

@ your dogs and cats . Very cute though.

The gray one is a purebred blue nose pit, which I got by chance, after I did a lot of research. She thinks she's a cat... And the cat thinks it's a dog. Hence the food bowl confusion that goes on every meal.

kgoldy

Posted 16 March 2011 - 08:18 AM

kgoldy

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The little gray cat (Maggie) was a stray that my mom adopted. It had a litter of kittens before being taken in, so it's very, very motherly towards the dogs... Especially Ashley. Maggie attempts to clean Ashley all the time.

Markushka

Posted 16 March 2011 - 09:43 AM

Markushka

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Rutgers NB

out of the three you posted, I'd have only tossed the last one. It doesnt really look good, while the others have some decent displayablility. Caulpera isn't bad if its controlled. And Ulva and Gracilaria usually don't take well in my tanks, really hit or miss.

kgoldy

Posted 16 March 2011 - 09:48 AM

At the moment I've just got a 3/4" ID vinyl tube pumping water from the drain... You can see in the above pictures, the bubbles are where all the flow is.

I was thinking of buying a few T's and placing them in line to break up the flow , and force it downward. At the end I'll place a cap or 90 degree elbow to create the backpressure that will be needed so the water doesn't simply follow the path of least resistance and go straight out the end.

Right now I'm probably getting somewhere around 400 GPH through the 20 gallon fuge... Can't reduce it without redoing my drain rig (which will probably happen sooner than later). Is this flow absolutely too much for macros?

And what do you guys (and gals) think of pipefish in there? Do they require the same low temperatures as seahorses?

I'm wondering if putting carnivores in there would be counter productive... If they'd destroy the whole pod population...

kgoldy

Posted 17 March 2011 - 09:06 PM

kgoldy

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Added some "tigger pods" to the fuge. I haven't noticed any bugs in the tank with their orange color yet, so I figured what the hell. Stuck the bottle in the tank to equalize temp- let it sink, and allowed a lot of the pods to creep out on their own. It was entertaining to watch... Not sure if the pods will show up on photobucket, but you can def see them on my camera.

Added a few pieces of plumbing to see how I could break up the flow so it's not blasting through anymore. Got more pieces to add, I just forgot to pick up some more black vinyl tubing while I was at the LFS to help put it all together. Also put on some Hydor Rotating Deflectors to try to put some more back pressure on my return pump... I really think I should have gone with the Ehiem 1260. This 1262 is like freak 5 horse power or something. Anyway, hopefully that stops the sand from forming dunes and pits in the display. The tank is now like random flow city!

Also put a second temporary light in... So that's two 23 watt off-the-shelf home depot CFL's in there. Hopefully this helps to control the massive amount of GHA that's been growing in the display.

Sadly- I think my GARF Grunge order got lost in the mail... Or at least delayed a day. I'm expecting a call from Leroy at GARF tomorrow when he figures out what happened.

captainbastard

Posted 18 March 2011 - 09:48 AM

captainbastard

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Nice setup. It'll be interesting to see how those tigger pods fair. I know people are on both sides of the fence whether or not they can survive in warmer waters, John can probably give us more info. Keep us updated

kgoldy

Posted 18 March 2011 - 10:21 AM

kgoldy

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Yeah, I think I read that they're from off the coast of Washington state... I expect, if they survive at all- that their metabolism and growth rates will be sped up so that they're more likely to reproduce quickly and will become a food source in my tank. Or... They're all dead already. Don't really know. Haha. I'll report back if I see any little orange pods in the tank a week from now. I looked briefly this morning, and didn't notice any- whereas they were a cloud of orange in the tank last night.

keydiver

Posted 18 March 2011 - 10:35 AM

keydiver

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macros are gonna be cool. you should get some red and brown macros, cause they're usually the prettier ones.
+1 to ochtodes, mine started dying back but have really taken off now and it looks great. The manatee and oar grass might be difficult unless you're using mineral mud or a DSB, not to mention the caulerpa prolifera that will out-compete it for space, it likes to send out runners into the sand. I've had it in my 20g for 3 months, and now you can't even see the ground.